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Aiming for Auckland but missed by quite some way


AcidBurn

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The FA Cup Final

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We lost 1-0 but managed to hang on until quite late in the game. Ashley Young broke Norwich fans hearts finishing off a well worked team goal. We did not shame ourselves though, I thought with our league record for conceding that we might let in a few against one of the best teams in England but we player really well. The stats show we had as many chances as them but failed to convert any, Bueno was injured had he played things may have been different but in the end we didn't have enough quality to beat Man United.

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Wow, a Norwich side worth watching!

lol, hope I can keep it going.

You lost to Preston, get out :p I will be forever disappointed at how poorly rated Grant-f'ing-Holt is in this version therefore I forgive you for not playing him.

I expected a lack of Grant Holt type comment from you, shame he is useless.

Quality season all round, not to mention it was your first in football management!

Thanks, feels strange having my first season be 2013-14.

Great first season in Norfolk :thup:

I hope your players start listening to you now!!

Thanks, you will be glad to know they have started to listen so when I get angry they actually react this time.

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Summer Transfers

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Nicky Maynard had a decent season last season so I bid his value and Everton accepted and he arrives on a relatively low-ish wage of 18k a week. Onuoha I signed on a free transfer the lad is fast and he was reasonably good at CB for my Sunderland side on another save so I thought I might as well snap him up, also on a free was Phil Bardsley who is a solid player that can play both fullback positions although he can be a bit wild at times with his tackles. Carrying on with free transfers I got Jake Livermore as cover for the midfield he is a bit of an all rounder and should be able to cover defensively and attacking in central midfield. Yet another free transfer was Craig Gardner from Sunderland he is a good quality CM but lack of games might upset him if he cannot break into the first team straight away. Kaboul at £1.7 million I think was a good buy he has experience and is a decent CB, strong, good in the air and a decent tackler. N'Diaye I got to challenge and rotate with John Ruddy in goal because the club only has Ruddy and no other keeper.

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My aim for next season is to build the team around Weiss signed for only £3.4 million the lad is brilliant. I have had him a couple of times at other clubs and he is really top class and a player I consider to be one of the best AMC's on the game. He far outplays his attributes and if we are to stay up then his goals and assists will be needed. I have dropped the three striker system and will play a narrow diamond with Weiss behind the two strikers encouraged to get into the box as much as possible.

I told the board I would finish mid-table and I think that is more than possible especially with Bueno and Weiss in the attacking part of our line-up. My only disappointment was not being able to bring in a very good CB which means we will ship a lot of goals.

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Only 10 Games Gone

Might just be me but I find it strange we have only played 10 games and remain 3 or 4 games behind the rest of the league, obviously I have played ahead of this post and it is an ongoing thing that we are usually 4 games behind most of the other teams in the league. We started with a draw and a loss and I thought things would just get worse especially once Bueno picked up an injury keeping him out of a few games for us. Weiss has been pretty good so far and is the key to our success leading us to a 6-2 victory over West Ham with 2 goals and 4 assists following narrow losses against both Manchester clubs.

Europa League

WE cruised through the qualifying after a decent away draw against Lokomotiv Moscow was following by a complete spanking of them 7-0 at home a win which came out of nowhere. We advanced to be drawn in a group with Omonoia, PSV and Braga. We picked up a win against PSV and then another against Omonoia but then Braga thrashed us and we were lucky to score three goals and keep the loss respectable. We got revenge on Braga in the next match and then destroyed Omonoia to qualify with one match left.

Domestic Cup

An easy draw against Millwall saw us win out 1-0 winners in a close game. We then faced Arsenal and I was surprised to see us win 2-1 in a match we could have won by more but goals from star man Weiss and Maynard was enough to see off a pretty full strength Arsenal side. Next up in the quarter final we faced Hull City and they managed to hold us to a 1-1 draw in normal time, I thought we were going through but they scored in the 88th and really took the game to us but Bueno really came to life to grab a hat trick and set up Maynard to take us through. Now we will face Fulham in the semi-finals.

Overall

Pretty pleased with our start although once again my teams simply do not like defending. Pretty annoying to see myself as a Sunderland fan playing a Kevin Keegan style tactic of outscoring the opponents. The squad will need more players but money is pretty tight at the moment. Looking forward to Europe and would love another crack at a cup final to make up for last season.

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Solid start so far and you have done brilliant to reach the Carling Cup Semi-Final :thup:.

Thanks, not sure if it is right to have played so few games in the EPL. I know we have Europe so maybe that is it as Sunderland I went straight to Champions League and was never in Europa League.

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Here comes the poor run

Looks like a bad run of form has started that we need to get over, only two wins in our last ten EPL games although we are still well above the dreaded relegation places. We were fantastic for three games in a row beating Aston Villa with ease 2-1 then spanking Blackpool 5-2 in their own backyard and Weiss scoring two great goals to see us beat Arsenal in the Cup at the Emirates and advance to the next round. Seems like the 1-1 draw with West Brom was the start of bad things and now we sit with no wins in six matches and a loss against Fulham in the semi-final of the League Cup.

We have had a run of games being played every 3 or 4 days for awhile now. This is not to blame for our poor form but it certainly has not helped with several players picking up small injuries here and there along with a small-ish squad it is not good fun but I do like the challenge.

In the Europa League we will face Fiorentina if we can beat them then we get the winner of Spartak Moscow Vs Genk, I feel we have a real chance of getting past Fiorentina if we can perform well in the first leg at their ground. Of course this is all dependant on us snapping out of this terrible run of form we are currently in.

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Only one signing in January, I would have preferred a defender but there really are not that many decent ones willing to come to us. Vela arrives for £1.9 million hoping he can ease the pressure off Weiss who has sometimes played despite being slightly unfit. Vela also has the ability to play upfront and wide left, I like my attacking players to be capable of playing more than one position so this is a big bonus.

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How many games in hand? :eek:
Thats ALOT of games in hand!

I know, at one point we had 5 games in hand over the top half of the EPL but we couldn't win all 5 lol.

Vela is a cracking signing. Hopefully your league form picks up soon to.

He should be on previous FM's he has been a brilliant player.

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Not bad with Norwich and you got those games in hand so that'll help.

Simeon Jackson hasn't scored in a while though. :(

He got injured in November and is out for 4-5 months. Hoping once he gets back he can continue scoring but his attributes are dropping especially his pace.

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Premier League

Not too bad of a season league wise finishing 13th is not bad for a newly promoted team. The end of season run was terrible four wins and six losses was just strange we spanked Liverpool and Man City but lost games we should have been more competitive in. Like I said I am happy with 13th but the lack of prize money does not look good on the clubs bank balance. Obviously the defence needs working on big time but the attack and midfield were all very strong apart from the odd game here and there.

Domestic Cup

I will start with the FA Cup, we were flying through it a 2-2 draw at Anfield took us to a replay which we won easily. We followed this with an extremely easy win over Hull City in a match we could have scored more in. Then everything went wrong I thought we would go through but Championship side Brighton thrashed us and could have had a couple more goals.

The one I am more proud of was the League Cup we beat Fulham 3-0 after losing the first leg to book another final appearance against Liverpool a team we had only just beaten a couple of weeks prior to the final. When the match came around I was confident of success but the team never turned up, everyone that had played well during the season played awful in the final and really let us down.

Just hoping losing finals does not become a recurring feature for my career.

Europa League

We drew Fiorentina and I was surprised that we went there and beat them 3-1 in their own stadium but this score was flattering yet I doubt any Norwich fans really care. We took them back to our place and went onto beat them 2-0 with Maynard grabbing both goals. We drew Russian opposition in the next round Spartak Moscow and we only just dispatched another Moscow based team with an away goals win. We were 2-0 up away from home but then they managed to get back into the game and I really expected us to go out and I wish we had. We face Lyon next and a very professional 3-1 win was great fun to watch, however the second leg was one of my worst days on FM ever as we got smashed 6-0 every shot Lyon had in the first 20 minutes went in putting them 3-0 up straight away.

Overall a very up and down season, watching the team crumble against Lyon and in the final against Liverpool was not fun and I really wish we could have got the win in the final.

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Once again the team had ability to get goals the front three scoring pretty well especially Bueno with 31 goals and the rest of the strikers also hitting double figures. The plan to put faith in Weiss was a good one as he finished with 24 goals and 23 assists. As you can see the defenders need replacing but that is a job for a different manager.

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The Future

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Just before the League Cup Final I applied for and was approached to take over as manager of Vitesse in Holland. I didn't expect to get the job so I asked for a decision to be delayed until the end of the season. The Vitesse board accepted and I will now take over the reigning champions of Holland and hopefully lead them to bigger and better things.

Got to wonder if the league will be this tight for my first season. Looks like it is pretty competitive but I am sure I can do well as Vitesse have given me a healthy wage budget but are a bit tight when it comes to transfer money despite having a £28 million bank balance we have been given £4 million to spend.

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Reigning champs eh? A bit closer to Auckland now.

A bit closer but I can't get google maps to show me how far like I did last time.

You did a very good job with Norwich and the best of luck with Vitesse :thup:

Cheers, just wish I had won something.

I think the Norwich job has really risen my reputation shortly into my Vitesse career I was offered the chance to manage Santos but rejected it.

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Due to our nice chairman allowing decent wages to be offered and Man City restricting Super Mario to one sub appearance all last season we were able to offer the crazy Italian 50k a week plus substantial goal and appearance bonuses. After our third set of negotiations Super Mario decided to sign on a free transfer as no other manager in the world would give him a contact.

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On a separate note I think I may have to go manage in Belgium at some point if this takeover goes through.

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